Tag "Planning"

A REVOLUTION in planning – with the needs of people who will use buildings and communities of the future at the heart of the development process – is launched in Wales today.
Enriching people’s lives and prioritising wellbeing in future development are key aims of a revamped Planning Policy Wales (PPW), which will underpin future planning decisions in Wales, with a strong low carbon emissions, ‘green’ focus.
Extraction and use of fossil fuels, including by fracking, will be restricted in Wales, placed at the bottom of a new ‘energy hierarchy’ that promotes renewable energy developments.
The 27-year-old was told by Judge Patrick Curran QC: “You should be utterly ashamed of yourself for getting involved in violence against women.” Woods, of Church Street, Ebbw Vale, admitted committing common assault against an ex-girlfriend and threatening her nephew with an offensive weapon in a public place – a screwdriver – in the town on the evening of Friday, October 19.
Later that evening, Woods confronted a group of people in Church Street, the prosecutor told the court.
Miss Lewis said Woods had 18 previous convictions for 36 offences, including custodial sentences for aggravated vehicle taking in 2011 and 22 months for robbery two years ago.
A PUBLIC inquiry will be held into the plans to quarry stone from a beauty spot in Torfaen.
Residents will be able to express their opinions on the planning application before the inspector compiles his report for Welsh Ministers.
Villagers say this traffic will worsen the already poor air quality in the area. “Hafodyrynys is one of the most polluted areas in Wales,” said Andrew Lewis, chairman of the village’s community association.

Los Angeles Times Fans of renewable energy anticipate a bonanza blowing off the coast of California.
But a map released by the U.S. Navy puts large swaths of the state off limits to future offshore wind farms — including all of San Diego and Los Angeles, extending up to the Central Coast.
The path to new offshore wind development along the U.S. East Coast is all but set in stone.
Thousands of megawatts of offshore wind are slated in policies set out by several East Coast states.
And proposed project timelines put commercial operations for new projects in the early 2020s.
But that kind of clarity is just not available for California’s offshore wind future.
State officials have indicated that, without opposition, offshore wind could begin generating electricity for California in the 2025 timeframe.
Initial emphasis from stakeholders for which project would be first for the state was placed on a proposal in an area near Morro Bay, but opposition from the U.S. Navy that cropped up later in the 2017 put those plans in jeopardy.
Now, the LA Time reports that stakeholders are still trying to work with the Navy to sort out which areas it believes should be off limits to offshore wind development.

In May 2018, a joint Marine Conservation Institute and Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE) expedition will probe the deep seafloor within the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
The sanctuary is home to an astonishing diversity of cold-water corals and sponges that build crucial habitat for a large number of fish and invertebrate species (e.g., Figure 1).
Globally, these fragile deep-sea ecosystems are at significant risk from a growing number of threats including climate change, oil and natural gas extraction, seafloor mining, and fisheries (Ramirez-Llodra et al. 2011).
Coupled with the fact that cold-water coral and sponge habitats are relatively rare, covering only small patches of the seafloor, simply locating these communities can be difficult.
The models link environmental data with locations that are already known to be inhabited, allowing us to predict where we expect to find new communities in unexplored areas (Figure 2, 3, and 4).
We developed models for five taxonomic groups in the Channel Islands Marine National Sanctuary: soft corals, hard corals, sea pens, black corals, and sponges.
These models (e.g., Figure 2, 3, and 4) act as our best estimate of where we expect to find these taxa in completely unexplored areas, and will help us choose sites and plan ROV surveys on our upcoming expedition.
With only 3% of the ocean explored – this expedition is sure to bring back critical information about our oceans!
The oceans thank you!
Feature Photo: An octopus explores the deep sea, by MARE.

Clearing skyrocketed in Queensland after the former Liberal National party government under the premier Campbell Newman broke an election promise and scrapped clearing controls, introducing several ways for farmers to more easily clear trees.
But regardless of state approvals, if a development is likely to impact a “matter of national environmental significance”, then it must also be approved by the federal government under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
In the initial letter the federal department of environment said it had examined the proposal and concluded that it “may be necessary” for the 51 landholders to seek formal approval under federal laws.
The then minister for the environment, Greg Hunt, publicly defended the action, saying: “The department must implement the law.” But correspondence obtained by Guardian Australia under FoI laws reveals the cause of Hunt’s change of heart, leading to the apology letter.
In it the department said the first letter had been “triggered” by information provided by the Queensland government, and that its intention was to help the landowners avoid legal action from conservation groups.
“Our intention is to assist you understanding how you can comply with our national environmental law, both to avoid breaches and potential legal action by other parties,” it said, after an earlier explanation that conservation groups can take legal action to stop clearing, even if they were authorised by the Queensland government.
EAI =6==2;Hagulnot =0 of 2 View on Scribd While the initial letter requested landholders supply information about how they were complying with federal law within a couple of weeks, the clarification letter advised they had no obligation to reply, adding that department officials were available to help.
Other documents obtained under FOI laws by the Wilderness Society reveal that the department initially investigated 59 properties that had clearing approved under Queensland law, of which 51 received the letters, after the department ruled they may need federal approval.
“Unfortunately it seems Josh Frydenberg has taken Greg Hunt’s lead and will continue to ignore growing emissions from the land sector to placate the hard-right of the National party.” Jessica Panegyres, a campaigner at the Wilderness Society, said the letter demonstrated the lack of proactive enforcement by the federal government.
“The only reason they looked into this, despite it triggering the EPBC Act all over the place, is because they were put on notice by the Queensland government.” Panegyres said the letter revealed the way land clearing and deforestation was effectively given an exemption from federal environmental law.

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